“Mommy, why do we put pretty lights on the Christmas tree, with a big shiny star on the top?” asked my grandson Jason. My daughter turned and looked at me with a, “help me”, expression on her face.

“Why don’t you ask grandpa?” she said, passing the buck.

“Oh please tell us grandpa,” said my granddaughter Allison, as she and Jason turned and looked expectantly at me. Fortunately I knew the answer to this one, so I began to tell them about our wonderful God and how He wrote His divine plan for all mankind in the heavens.

“Well guys, God used the stars in the sky to tell us of His plan of salvation. Did you know that each star has a name and a meaning?” They shook their heads and looked at me with puzzled expressions.

“Isn’t that the horoscope that mommy said is bad?” asked Allison.

“No sweetie, I am talking about the Truth in the heavens not the devils lies that people foolishly follow. Let me explain. The reason God placed the stars and planets in the heavens was to reveal knowledge about His son Jesus Christ and His wonderful plan for each one of us.

“But what’s that got to do with the lights on the tree?” asked Jason impatiently.

“If you let me explain a little more, then you will understand,” I said as I opened up an Illustrated Children’s Bible to the book of Mathew. Pointing to the picture of the wise men following the star I said, “Mathew tells us a beautiful story about wise men that followed one bright star on a long journey to find the baby Jesus. The Bible tells us that they followed ‘His star’ meaning it actually belongs to Jesus, and it is still there in the night sky for us to see.”

“But I don’t see”, said Jason growing more impatient.

Warming to the subject, I quickly retrieved my Readers Digest Atlas of our solar system from the bookshelf and opened it to a chart of the constellation of Virgo.

‘There it is”, I said pointing to the brightest star in the constellation, “it is called ‘Spica.’ You see, since ancient times there are four symbols that have been associated with Virgo. They are: Virgo, the virgin; Coma, a woman holding a baby; Centaurus, the centaur, who is a half-man and half-horse creature and Bootes, a shepherd, or harvester.”

“The figure of Virgo over here, holds a sheaf of wheat in her left hand, and within it is the constellations brightest star called Spica, which means “seed.” After Adams fall, God told Satan:

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15)

“You see this prophecy is referring to Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, and called ‘Seed of woman’, because the woman does not carry the seed and that is why Isaiah prophesizes; “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” And even more exciting is that over here in Virgo’s hand is a smaller star called Subilon, which means, “Branch”, of whom the prophet Zechariah prophesied when he said, “I will bring forth my servant the Branch.” (Zechariah 3:8)

“And over here in the second figure in the constellation you can see a picture of a woman holding a baby. It symbolizes the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus, and it contains a star named Coma, positioned upon the Baby. This star has a beautiful meaning: “The Desired One.” Jesus, the long hoped-for Messiah, is the Desired One:”

“Over here is Bootes, which means shepherd or harvester, and who is our great Shepherd and Lord of the Harvest? Jesus.”

“Dad you are getting carried away, explaining far over their heads!” exclaimed my daughter. “Keep it simple, they are too young to fully understand.”

“Sorry guy’s, I just get so excited when I can talk about Jesus. The reason we put a big star on the top of the tree is to remember the bright star that the wise men followed to find the Baby Jesus. The beautiful twinkling Christmas lights that we put on the tree, remind us that if we take time to study the stars in the night sky and understand their meaning, that we have a hope and a future.”

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